Salt bar issues

[Galavanting Gifts]

I just made a beautiful salt bar, only problem is, when I cut it up it looks like it has lye pockets, I was certain I blended everything together spot on.
Are they actually lye pockets or is it something else, just little dots of something over the bar, doesn't show on the outside just where it's been cut.
Can salt bars be rebatched?
I'm not sure what's been happening with me lately I feel like all i've been doing is rebatching :?

 

[heartsong]

x

not being able to look at a picture, or know you recipe, it could be just about anything. stick your tongue to the area. if you you get a ZAP, like you licked a battery, then it's lye.

 

[Galavanting Gifts]

lol I hate doing the zap test, My husband is asleep in his chair i'm wondering if I stuck the bar in his mouth if he would wake up? rofl.
I think he's had enough of my insisting on soap test taste tasting it's just that he does such a gret job lol.
I will try get a pic and post it.

 

[Jeremy]

One word, Phenophaline, no more licking. I think I'm going to make that my campaign slogan.
"Don't be a dope, stop licking soap"
Maybe that's too harsh of a slogan.
Anyhoo, it's cheap, it works and no more licking soap.

 

[Galavanting Gifts]

ROFL that just cracked me up, thanks for the laugh. Oh and what is Phenophaline?

 

[surf girl]

Oh and what is Phenophaline?

Phenolphthalein is a chemical indicator (can't remember what it indicates - pH maybe?). If I remember correctly, some people can taste it, some people can't (it's a genetic thing) but it tastes yucky.

 

[Jeremy]

Yes Phenophaline is a liquid, you apply a drop or two to your soap and if it turns pink it's still Ph high, if it stays clear the soap is good to go.
It's inexpensive, doesn't harm your soap and esier to use than PH strips.

 

[Galavanting Gifts]

wow, i've never heard of it before. So i'm guessing you place a couple of drops on the already made up bar of soap?

Where can Phenophaline be purchased from?

 

[Galavanting Gifts]

o.k. I just typed into google where in Australia I can get this stuff from, apparently nowhere :? that's it, i'm moving to America lol.

 

[surf girl]

I thought the "no licking" was a reference to the bad taste of the phenolphtalein, duh! I may have my genetics class memories mixed up, though, anyway - I did a search and it looks like it's the ability to taste phenyithiocarbamide that has a genetic basis. Oops.

 

[Stacykins]

Phenolphthalein does sound like it would be an excellent determinant of pH in soap. Especially because the color will eventually fade too if it does react with a base.

With pH test strips, how do people test pH when soap is in a solid state? Do you cut off a tiny piece and put it in distilled water, and then wet the strip with the solution?

 

[desert_gold_hound]

I have never tested soap but I have tested other items. Yes you use a liquid to dissolve the soap. Some sites recommend using alcohol/water mix.

If I remember from high school chemistry you should use something with a somewhat neutral PH to dissolve your soap. Then if you need VERY accurate readings you could use different PH based liquids to get a accurate reading. I would think that one test would give you a result that would be satisfactory for our needs.

 

[surf girl]

OK, so now you've got me all interested in the pH testing of soap.

There's a great info sheet on strips/meters tested by a soapmaker here:

http://millersoap.com/phtome.html

I checked the pH at which phenolphthalein changes colour, and it's 8.2-12.0 (i.e. colourless below 8.2 and colourless above 12.0). I do wonder if this is too wide a range to be helpful (i.e. soap is unlikely to be below 8.2, and if it is as high as 12, that would be bad).

HTH!

 

[Galavanting Gifts]

So what is the difference between phenolphthalein that surfgirl mentions and Phenophaline that Jeremy mentions or is it just a different spelling?

I contacted our local chemist and he said they don't sell it but they can get hold of the testing papers that contain Phenophaline but i'm not sure what ph ranges I should be looking at to know when the soaps are safe.

 

[Galavanting Gifts]

ok i've been ringing aroun ALLLLL morning and i've managed to track some of this stuff down, here they call it Phenolphthalein, it's not so cheap here for $55 per 100 mls not including tax and transport. :shock:

 

[surf girl]

So what is the difference between phenolphthalein that surfgirl mentions and Phenophaline that Jeremy mentions or is it just a different spelling?

As far as I know, it is spelled phenolphthalein. (And you'd pronounce it - or at least, we always did - "FEE noll THAY leen").

I contacted our local chemist and he said they don't sell it but they can get hold of the testing papers that contain Phenophaline but i'm not sure what ph ranges I should be looking at to know when the soaps are safe.

I think you will find some references that say your soap should be ph 7.5-ish, but I'm in the camp of the skeptical on that. I think soap is in the 9-10 range, because the folks who use the most accurate measurement methods seem to say so. The link I included in the post above discusses which test strips are most accurate, and discusses how to take measurements.

 

[Galavanting Gifts]

Thanks surfgirl, i'm wondering if it would just be easier to keep tongue zapping myself instead lol.
I wonder if they have a "Tongue zapper annonimous" group I could join lol.

 

[surf girl]

ok i've been ringing aroun ALLLLL morning and i've managed to track some of this stuff down, here they call it Phenolphthalein, it's not so cheap here for $55 per 100 mls not including tax and transport. :shock:

If you're really keen, you could contact this Australian distributor - they carry the Macherey-Nagel plastic pH test strips mentioned in the link above as being accurate (comparable to a pH meter). Or, you could contact the science department at your local high school or college and see what they have available.

Rowe Scientific: http://www.rowe.com.au/mntest.htm

 

[surf girl]

Yeah, I'm a tongue-zapper myself Luckily, the zaps are few and far between.

 

[ChrissyB]

When I made salt bars, after cutting they always seem moist, I think the salt draws on the moisture somehow. It's definitely not lye, it's like they sweat or something. They will stop doing it after a while, I blotted mine with paper towel just to soak it up, but if you can get good air flow around them while they are curing it will go away.